The Colorado Avalanche struggled with turnovers and head coach Jared Bednar said his team needs to tighten up their defensive side and stay on top of pucks. After two consecutive losses, the Colorado Avalanche continue to struggle with consistency — which has been an issue for the team this season. There were 17 turnovers in the 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/avalanche-5-2-loss-to-philadelphia-flyers-self-inflicted] and head coach Jared Bednar said those giveaways and unstructured play killed his team. "It's the scoring chances were giving up on turnovers, and not getting back above pucks early enough in the offensive zone — the sort of second and third effort to reload and get above it to get the numbers where we want them so we can play in the structure of our game has been lacking," Bednar said. Nathan MacKinnon has been the most consistent on the team with at least a point in each of the last 11 consecutive games. He's also been the most successful at home ending up on the scoresheet in every game at Ball Arena so far this season. But Bednar knows his team has more depth and it's just been unfortunate for some players who have had superb scoring chances to not get rewarded for them. "Our numbers on the creating offense side of it through the course of the year have been good — they've been really good actually in a lot of areas," Bednar said. "It's the defending side of it that's hurting us. Now you got to look at making sure you've got responsible lines so you can play all four." Mikko Rantanen shifted around last game as Bednar is trying to get him out of his scoring drought. He's been held scoreless for the last three games but it hasn't been for lack of scoring chances. He had six shots, which is the second-most he's had in a game this season. The 27-year-old Finnish forward had the highest faceoff win percentage in the loss to the Flyers. He said it's important to win those in order to create scoring chances. "Last year I was trying to (work on faceoffs) really because it really affects the game a lot if you can play with the puck more," Rantanen said. "Most of that take off in the offensive zone, I take the faceoff, so I've tried to work on it. Because obviously we want to play with the puck — so probably started last year to work on it a deal more and think about it." Ryan Johansen was shifted to the fourth line and said he has to be ready to play wherever Bednar puts him. "I think it was part of a plan mixing things up, and looking for chemistry and whatnot," Johansen said. "It's just my job as a pro to make sure I'm ready and (when) my name's called get ready to do what I do." Josh Manson is day-to-day with an injury and Joel Kiviranta was absent from morning skate due to illness. Bednar said both are questionable to play in Monday's game. The club recalled forward Ben Meyers from the Colorado Eagles ahead of the matchup. PROJECTED LINES Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen Valeri Nichushkin — Ryan Johansen — Tomas Tatar Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Logan O’Connor Andrew Cogliano — Fredrik Olofsson — Kurtis MacDermid Devon Toews — Cale Makar Bowen Byram — Sam Malinksi Jack Johnson — Caleb Jones Alexandar Georgiev Ivan Prosvetov
